Winter Drive

Our drive over the moor to Edinburgh for Christmas was tricky so we took the Landrover, this is just passed Gifford where it was much easier.

Away in a Manger

My last posting for Christmas. I couldn't get any nearer as they just moved away!

Snow Prints

Mr H teases me because I am always fascinated by animal prints in the snow, he calls me the Nature Detective! I love trying to work out what has been around our house in the dark. Our local gamekeeper says he has seen badgers on our bank and spotted an Otter, we have never been so lucky as to see them. Here we have at the top a cock pheasant dragging his long tail, next a rabbit at the left a deer and below one you don't want and we are trying to get rid of ...a rat.

Snow Flakes

It started to snow those big magic snowfalkes my attempt at photographing them was not that successful, one photo taken with a flash, one without.

Ice Puddle

Another ice puddle, but Mr H noticed it had my initial in it.

Freezing Fog

If any one is in doubt about how cold it can be in fog, I think this picture says it all.

Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail ?

I got a real surprise when I saw out of the window, what I thought was a yellow wagtail running and bobbing along the guttering. I have now discovered it is a grey wagtail and that normally they like to feed in streams. The pictures are poor quality as I grabbed my camera and took them through the window. I like the one where it is shaking itself dry.

Winter Morning

I love these frosty mornings, when everything feels crisp underfoot.

Scott's Selkirk

We were passing through Selkirk and decided to stop for breakfast, we hadn't realised an event called Scott's Selkirk was on, named after Sir Walter Scott. The High Street and Market Place had been transformed into a Georgian Christmas market, with stalls and street entertainment, even the shop keepers had dressed up. This is the fourth year and it would appear to be very successful, we saw queues for the re enactment of court dramas and other events.
We enjoyed our walk around the town, bought a few bits from the stalls and had an excellent breakfast at Selkirk Delicatessen.

An Ice Puddle

There is always the temptation to do a childish jump into the middle of these puddles!

Winter Scene

I nearly missed this, saw the light from the window, grabbed the camera but didn't catch the best of it.......you have to e quick.

Sunrise

This mornings sunrise, which I nearly missed it changes so quickly.

Statues

These statues are in my friends garden and were used as moulds for bronzes by the artist who used to live there. I love the way they have weathered.

Armillaria mellea-Honey Fungus

Still in Devon I spotted what I think is Honey Fungus on the stump of a tree, I wonder if that was the reason it was cut down?

Oare Church

This is the church in the village of Oare where on the alter steps the fictional character Lorna was shot by Carver Doone during her marriage to John Ridd. We have just spent a fantastic ten days at the home of our friends who live next door.

Bracken- Pteridium aquilinum

Most of the bracken around us has turned gold, brown or almost a dead brown, black but not this one which still thinks it is mid summer. Bracken is one of the oldest ferns with fossil records of over 55 million years old having been found.

Autumn

I don't expect to see much sunlight or any leaves left on the trees when we walk the spaniel this morning, it is wet and very windy.

Trees

This tree must be very old, around the other side it has tunnels under it's roots, a perfect place for foxes etc. but as it is on the gamekeepers patch, there is nothing in there. This was taken on our walk the other morning, it was waterproofs today no weather for a camera.

Cowebs

They are everywhere, but I didn't see any spiders.

Cobweb

Another cobweb, there was another I spotted but the spaniel running around managed to shake all the dew of it.

Cowebs

On our dog walk this morning it was very still with everything looking fresh and shiny with dew, in the early sun. With a not so patient spaniel, who didn't think cobwebs were at all interesting but with a very patient husband, (sometimes setting the shots) I managed to get quite a few photos of cobwebs.

Mushroom/Toadstool

I don't know what this fungus is. It is all round the base of one of our trees and I was a bit concerned it was Honey Fungus, Armillaria mellea but the discription in my mushroom field guide of the tree killer Honey Fungus is nothing like this photo. Any ideas?

Cornus alba 'Sibirica' - Red-barked dogwood

Cornus alba tends to be a bit dull in the summer but in the Autumn the leaves turn a lovely red and then all winter the stems are bright red, giving well needed colour during the winter months.

Borage - Borago officinalis

I didn't expect to take a photo of borage at this time of the year but it is in full flower in the poly tunnel. It was late in flowering and didn't appear in the garden like it usually does, must be the weather. The flowers are great frozen in cubes of ice or dropped straight into glasses, the plant has a cucumber flavour. Bees love borage flowers and you occasionally see borage honey for sale.

Tomato Chutney

It's that time of the year again, for making chutney with the green tomatoes. You can see the result and I think I still have enough green tomatoes to make a second batch. We are still picking red tomatoes in the poly tunnel.

Seeds

I know it is better with most plants and flowers to cut of the dead flower heads before it sets seeds but then you miss out on wonderful seed pods like these from the Iris.

Firth of Forth

The last few days have not been very inspiring for taking photographs, just dull, so I have cheated today, this is a photograph my husband took on his iphone from the train window at Inverkeithing. It depicts the weather exactly.

East Lothian

It was a stunning day yesterday a truly Indian summer day which we spent over in East Lothian. I thought this a very typical East Lothian golf scene of Mr H, brother in law and friend playing golf. Our friends have this wonderful view from their house and on a clear day like yesterday can see all the way over to Fife. This was taken in the late afternoon.

Empty Owl Box

More autumn colours, the Maple tree our owl box is in and a picture of one of the owlets earlier in the year when it was ringed. We occassionally see one of the adults but the young ones have fledged, I hope they will find a mate and a nest box of their own.

Hydrangea petiolaris - Climbing Hydrangea

Continuing on the theme of autumn coloured foliage brightening up dull areas of the garden, this plant grows on a north, west wall and clings on by itself without support. The leaves are not a deep orange but still a lovely colour.

Euphorbia sikkimensis

It has been a very dull day in the Scottish Borders, however, even although the garden is looking tired and in desperate need of a tidy up, there is lovely bright Autumn coloured foliage everywhere I look, that lights it up.

Blackthorn-Prunus spinosa

Better known as a sloe bush the Blackthorns in the hedge is where we pick our sloe berries for making sloe gin. There are not a lot of berries on the bushes around us this year, so we will probably have to go further afield to collect more.

Norway Maple

These are the paired winged fruits/seeds of the Maple tree. I think they look like a childs mobile, that's the hanging kind not their phone!

Hupeh Rowan - Sorbus hupehensis

According to my tree book this specimen is rare in the British Isles, so I may have got this wrong but the tree certainly met the discription in the book. Any other suggestions?

Rowan Tree - Sorbus aucuparia

A fantastic speciman of a Rowan tree the changing berries and leaves looked as if they had a light glowing under them.